Refugee claimant who has previously lived in Chicago and Dubai plays the "honour killing "card in order to remain in Canada

Jordanian mom hiding in Toronto after deportation order

First posted: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 07:14 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 07:22 PM EDT

Abeer Hassan Al Rifaee, 32, on the run, but believed to be in Toronto with her sons, claiming she will be subject of “honour killing” if deported to Jordan for converting family from Islam to Christianity. Jordanian community claim leaving Islam one of worst crimes in Jordan and she can be stoned to death.

TORONTO – A Jordanian mom of two now hiding in the Toronto-area claims she will be the victim of an “honour killing” if deported to Amman.

She says that is the punishment that awaits for converting her family from Islam to Christianity.

Abeer Hassan Al Rifaee, 32, has been on the run with Mohamed, 10, and Saleem, 8, since March 29 when a warrant was issued for her arrest by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for not showing up for removal.

Jordanian community and church leaders in Toronto said converting to Christianity from Islam is one of the worst crimes in that country. As a penalty Al Rifaee can be stoned to death.

“I am very scared for my life and that of my children,” Al Rifaee told the Sun from a Toronto-area hideout. “My kids haven’t been going to school and we are scared to leave the apartment.”

The family seldom venture outside fearing they’ll be scooped and placed on a flight home.

“We are very terrified for our lives,” she said on Wednesday. “The kids like me are terrified of being tortured and forced to re-convert to Islam.”

Al Rifaee, her estranged husband, and their sons, arrived here from Dubai in February 2009 as visitors and filed refugee claims that were turned down in March 2011. Subsequent appeals were also denied.

They had previously lived in Chicago for five years and her sons were born there.

Al Rifaee’s refugee claim was tossed out due to credibility issues and she had returned to Jordan four or five times after alleging she’ll be killed there, a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board ruled.

Richmond agent stole immigrants’ ICBC payments
By Jason Proctor CBC News Posted: May 11, 2012 11:33 AM PT Last Updated: May 11, 2012 1:33 PM PT
A B.C. provincial court judge sentenced a Richmond insurance agent to one year in jail Thursday for stealing cash from dozens of customers’ insurance payments to pay for his trips to a casino.

Ka Chun Chan, 48, preyed on Chinese immigrants with very little command of English. According to an agreed statement of facts he claimed he took the money to maintain a gambling habit.

He instructed clients to make cheques payable to him rather than to the Insurance Corporation of B.C.
‘Are they going to get the message from Mr. Chan that Canada is a corrupt place?
—Judge Ron Fratkin

The scheme began to unravel when ICBC started notifying clients their Autoplan premiums were in arrears or unpaid.

In the meantime — dozens of motorists with high-end vehicles were driving around Lower Mainland roads without insurance.

Credit card ring A Quebec Provincial Police officer shows some of the confiscated credit cards and technology at a news conference Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press

Quebec debit card ring defrauds 22,000
Montreal-based ring linked to Vancouver, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Tunisia
CBC News Posted: May 9, 2012 7:13 AM ET Last Updated: May 9, 2012 10:04 PM ET

Investigators allege the suspects altered pin pads in commercial businesses and captured customer’s data. (Radio-Canada)

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Police in Quebec have arrested 45 people and seized more than 12,000 counterfeit bank cards in raids on an international fraud ring that cloned cards and pilfered cash from victims’ accounts.

“We believe that we’ve put an end to a significant operation that was in operation here in the province,” said Supt. Guy Pilon of the RCMP.
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“Internationally, it is a reality that is obviously evident in all countries today. The advent of the technology creates opportunity for the public, but also for criminal organizations that want to defraud individuals.”

The network was based in Montreal, but worked with accomplices in Vancouver, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Tunisia and the United Kingdom.

Tenant Nina Willis, 48, faces two fraud and two forgery charges in relation to her tenancy at a Toronto landlord's house. Toronto Police

Tenant from hell leaves string of landlord victims
Published On Sat, 05 May 2012

(…)

Emily Mathieu
Staff Reporter

Nina Willis seemed like the ideal tenant.

She was well-spoken and tidy, posing as an employee for a cellphone company with offices in Toronto and Montreal. She came with glowing references.

What landlord Darius Vakili, 63, didn’t know was that the 48-year-old Willis was a tenant from hell, with a track record of bounced cheques and eviction notices.

A Star investigation reveals that the rules governing the provincial Landlord and Tenant Board have allowed people like Willis to flourish. Privacy legislation means her dodgy past as a tenant is kept secret from prospective landlords.

Willis denies any wrongdoing. “There is a lot more to it than what you have been told,” she said, but did not provide details. “I don’t have anything to hide. I have done nothing wrong.”

Landlord Vakili, who owns a small rental home in Don Mills is one in a long series of at least six landlords who have had trouble with Willis. Vakili is locked in a battle to evict Willis and recover more than $7,000 in unpaid rent.

Former SNC-Lavalin exec accused of funneling cash to Gadhafis
Company’s annual shareholder meeting Thursday expected to be lively
By Dave Seglins and John Nicol, CBC News Posted: May 2, 2012 5:04 AM ET Last Updated: May 2, 2012 9:01 AM ET
A pedestrian walks past the SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., headquarters in Montreal, May 7, 2009. (Christinne Muschi/Reuters)

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An angry insider at engineering giant SNC-Lavalin has accused the company’s former head of construction, Riadh Ben Aissa, of secretly funneling money to members of Libya’s Gadhafi family, according to a “poison pen” email obtained by CBC News.

“Since the early 1990s Ben Aissa has organized more than 300 million [dollars in] payments to shell companies acting as intermediaries between SNC-Lavalin and the Libyan government (ie the Gaddafi family),” the anonymous insider wrote in the email, which was sent to the company’s executives and board of directors in December.

The message called on them to show “courage and ethics” to fix internal problems within the company, urging them to “move your ass!”

Four arrested in counterfeit goods raid at Dr. Flea’s

Four people were arrested and more than $1 million worth of knock-offs were seized when Toronto police executed two search warrants at a north Etobicoke flea market late last week.

Members of 23 Division’s Major Crime Unit raided Dr. Flea’s International Flea Market at 8 Westmore Dr. on Friday, April 27 and Sunday, April 29 after a three-month counterfeit investigation.

Police allege they seized numerous counterfeit items of clothing, toys, handbags and wallets in their search of 16 booths at the popular flea market. The value of the seized items is estimated at more than $1 million.

Also seized were 5,359 fraudulent DVDs, valued at $107,180.

The four people arrested now face 11 charges under the Copyright Act.